Back up
by wolfypuppypiles
Summary: Spider-Man is attempting to stop a bank robbery, and it was going well, but there were a few things he hadn't been expecting. A bomb, an inhuman, and more than one injury. Because nothing was easy for Peter. But that's why you have a team to watch your back.


"Take a right, and there should be an exit just at the end of the hall. Police are waiting outside, for the hostages there. Man, I'm a great man in the chair."

Peter laughed as he agreed. "Yeah, you're the best, now concentrate, and let me know if that bad guy wakes up."

"On it! Although, you knocked him out pretty good, and you tied him up, so, I don't think he's going to be causing any more trouble."

Ned took another Dorito from the bag, as he switched monitors, looking at the various security camera's he'd gotten access to in order to watch over his best friend and the bank robbers he was trying to take out.

It was all going according to plan until-

"Crap."

Peter ushered the hostages out to the waiting police, the other robbers unaware that their leverage was leaving right out of the building, since their guard was taken care of.

He waved people through the door, and lifted a hand to his coms. "What?"

Ned watched the tiny men on the screen, one of whom was ripping the bank vault open with his bare hands.

"One of the robbers is an inhuman, he's got super strength Peter. He's ripping the metal apart like it's no problem."

Peter sighed as the last of the hostages left the building, and he gestured to the swat team to stay back.

"I'll handle it. How many of them are there?" Peter walked over to the door leading to the rest of the bank, where the robbers were, but as soon he pressed the door handle down, he heard something.

Ned's reply was blocked out as his hearing focussed on the click that sounded when he'd turned the handle, and the sounds that came afterwards.

Click. Tick. Ticktickticktick

Peter didn't have much time to move, only making it a few steps away with a last, panicked shout.

"Bomb!"

The door handle had acted as a trigger switch to a bomb that had been rigged up to the ceiling, as a failsafe, to kill all hostages and police that tried to enter to stop the robbery. Their guard would be crushed too, but what did criminals care about collateral damage?

The room blew, and Peter could hear the crack and rumble as the ceiling began to collapse on top of him.

It all happened so quickly, with only a few milliseconds between each occurrence. The trigger, two steps and a shout, and down came the ceiling.

Ned watched the whole thing on the security cameras, before they were destroyed in the wreckage; the plume of dust and smoke, the rumble from the other cameras as the whole bank shook from the blast. And he could do nothing but grip his desk with white knuckles, as his best friend disappeared beneath the rubble.

The blast did not go unnoticed by the robbers, and the leader, paused in his handling of money and gold bars, to look towards the blast. Ned watched as he thrust piles of money into his accomplice's hands and began walking towards Peter and the destruction.

Ned could no longer see inside the room Peter was in, and he had never felt so helpless. He was going to sit and listen to his best friend die.

…

Peters world went black when the roof came down, and when he woke, all he heard was the muffled, slightly static sounds of Ned panicking through the coms.

"-eter! Get up! Yo- ha- et up, he's co- ing!"

Stone and rubble pressed him down to the floor, and he groaned in pain as he flung it off. He felt as if his whole body had been pulverized, and he attempted to pull a decent breath, he stood on shaky feet and surveyed the damage.

The ceiling had been rigged expertly so that the supporting beams for the rest of the bank were left intact. The rest of the building was safe, but Peter was less lucky.

The rubble, and what was the ceiling, had been the second stories floor, made of heavy ass marble.

Peter lifted a hand to his temple, as he wavered on his feet, Karen's voice coming to his fuzzy head.

"You have sustained a moderate concussion, and a broken wrist, which was crushed along with your web shooter." Huh, that's why it had hurt so much to move the rubble.

"I have also detected multiple small contusions across your back, as well as a cut along your hairline and another on your right thigh, that may make it difficult to walk. I recommend medical treatment. Shall I call for help?"

Peters head was spinning, and he lifted his left wrist in front of him to inspect the crushed tech. Yep, no fixing that.

"Yeah, ugh…call…call Tony." It was hard to talk, while still trying to get his bearings, but he managed to keep his thoughts on track.

"And call the SWAT team outside, let them know we have an inhuman that'll need reinforced cuffs. Maybe call the bomb squad too, we don't know if they have any more tricks up their sleeves."

"Nope, no more bombs. Just me."

Peter turned at the voice, adrenaline spiking as the inhumanly strong bank robber stepped towards him across the rubble and debris.

"You ruined my perfect plan; I think it's only fair that I get to ruin you."

Peter really wasn't in the best condition to fight, but it wasn't as if he could say no.

Spider-Man, of course, couldn't help being a little cheeky in order to stall. Peter rolled his shoulders back and began stretching theatrically, ignoring the way it hurt to keep up the charade.

"You mind if I take a minute? You kind of dropped marble on my head so…"

Ned's laugh came through the damaged coms, a little hysterically with relief that his friend okay. "Go get him, Spider-Man!"

The thief didn't think it was so funny, but he smiled a little to himself as he picked up a slab of marble, grunting with the effort, as he hurled it at the hero.

Peter fired a web with his good shooter, using it to grab the slab and propel himself over it, landing with a kick right in the robbers chest and sending them both to the ground.

It was a super sweet move, however, the cut on Peters thigh was less sweet, and really freaking hurt.

Peter used another web to fling the robber to the wall and stick him there, while he inspected his leg. Blood poured down his suit as Karen updated her list of his injuries.

"You need to stop the bleeding. I recommend using a compression web."

Peter was about to do just that, when he heard webs snapping. He turned to see the robber lurch towards him, and went to jump away, only to be stopped when the criminal grabbed his good wrist and squeezed. Hard.

"Did you just forget that I have super strength? Those webs are nothing to me." Peter groaned in pain as the man squeezed his wrist, crumpling his last web shooter beneath his grip.

Peter knew that if he didn't stop him, he would likely break his one good wrist, but he also knew that what he had to do would really, really hurt. The teenager grit his teeth in anticipation, knowing he didn't have a choice.

He squeezed his fingers into a fist, and threw his knuckles towards the man's face. His broken wrist screamed in protest as it struck, and he almost let out a scream himself, at the pain; but his plan worked, and the robber stumbled backwards.

Peter felt faint, white spots dancing across his vision as he tried to breathe through the agony racing up and down his arm.

Karen's voice was sympathetic. "The break in your wrist is now displaced. Please don't use it again. Mr Stark will be coming very shortly, and I have called for a med team."

Ned's voice came right after hers, his worry still audible through the static of the compromised com link. Peter could barely concentrate on what he was saying, as the robber shook off his shock from the punch and lunged at Peter once more.

"Are you okay? Karen keeps making your injury list longer. Are you sure you don't want me to tell the police to come in and help?"

The inhuman swung a fist at Spider-Man, which the teenager dodged, as he did his best to answer his friend.

"No, keep them outside! He'll hurt them!"

The robber was growing impatient, and let out a grunt of fury as he grabbed Spider-Man and lifted him off the ground, before throwing him at the marble wall.

Peter struck the cold stone with a cry of pain, and landed heavily on the ground, unable to stop a whimper from escaping when his broken arm was jostled. The man came at him again, and Peter kicked out, desperately trying to keep him away, as he cradled his broken wrist to his chest.

The kick struck the criminals legs, sending him to the ground, but he managed to grip Peters ankle and throw him once again, across the room, to land on rubble and hunks of rock.

His vision was nothing but white for a moment, and he wasn't sure if his eyes were open anymore, but he knew he wasn't breathing because his chest burned as pain lanced through him. Karen spoke again.

"Two of your ribs have been broken. You need to stay awake, Peter."

The teenager heaved in an agonising breath and almost immediately released it all in a sob. Everything hurt, and he couldn't keep fighting, he couldn't do it.

Ned could hear his friend, and was glad that he couldn't see him, in the condition he was to be making such noises. His voice was quiet. "Mr Stark will be there any minute now, you'll be okay."

The bank robber still came closer, and Peter hadn't managed to pick himself up from the rubble yet. He didn't know if he could, his head was too fuzzy, and he felt so weak. But he couldn't give up, he couldn't let that criminal get away, or hurt anybody else, especially not Tony.

Peter may have only been fifteen, but he was one tough kid, and he steeled himself to finish the fight. He grit his teeth, and heaved himself from the wreckage, ignoring the way the robber laughed at his efforts.

"You just don't give up, do you little man?"

Spider-Man liked to pride himself on not hurting anyone too badly, and even going easy on bad guys, because he was a hero, and hero's saved people. He didn't want to hurt anyone, but this guy needed to be stopped.

The criminal came closer, his smug face burning a pit of anger inside Peters chest, and he used it as strength to lift a hunk of marble from the ground. He threw it with his good arm, watching it hit the inhuman in the chest and knock him to his knees.

The man got back up, and Peter stepped closer, eyes locked in a glare.

Spider-Man threw another hunk of rubble, striking the robber in the face to make him stumble and slow.

Peter walked over to him, and threw his good fist at his face, before the man had a chance to get up. He was sent back to the ground with the force of it, but Peter didn't give him a chance to recover, as he punched him again, and again. He ignored the way blood began to stain the suit over his knuckles, focussing on stopping the criminal before he hurt anyone else.

Peter's mind was so scrambled from his concussion, that he didn't notice the crashing of Iron Man coming through the door behind him. He didn't stop hitting the robber beneath him, until strong hands pulled him back, a familiar voice guiding him back to awareness.

"You can stop now, Spider-Man. Let him go."

Peter blinked, suddenly realizing what he was doing, and let out a gasp at the sight of the robber. His face was bruised and bloodied, his eyes closed, as he lay unconscious.

Tony gently pulled Peter back, catching him when he stumbled, as police swarmed the building.

Peter couldn't take his eyes off the inhuman, trying to process what happened, but he could hear Tony talking behind him, and Ned through the coms.

"Did you get him? Is he okay?"

"Yeah, I got him. He's banged up, so I'm going to take him back to the tower. Call Happy, tell him I need him inside."

"On it."

Peter was so weak and tired, that he could barely stand on his own, and he leant heavily against Tony's chest as the man held him up.

Police began cuffing the inhuman, and handling his accomplices, as Peter just tried to haul in a decent breath. Now that all the excitement was over his adrenaline was crashing, and he had never felt weaker.

His hands began to shake, and all the pain of his injuries came back.

Tony kept talking quietly to him, but Peter didn't really take any of it in until Happy appeared at his side and gently took his face in his hands.

"Spider-Man? Can you hear me? I need you to answer, we're getting worried over here, kid."

Peter blinked and brought his fuzzy gaze to the concerned, face of Happy in front of him.

"I…Yeah, I can hear you."

Happy shared a look with Tony, nodding a little, before pointing to the blood still pouring down Peters leg.

"Do you think you can walk out of here?"

Peter took a moment to look at the cut over his thigh. He thought he'd put a compression web over it, but maybe he'd only thought about doing it before his shooter had been crushed. It was all so fuzzy in his mind, like disjointed flashes from a movie. He couldn't concentrate.

Happy lifted the heroes face, with a gentle finger under his chin. "Kid? Answer my question."

Peter took a moment to remember what the question had even been, but finally nodded and attempted to walk out of the bank.

Tony kept his hands at Peters back, and Happy hovered nearby, ready to catch him should he fall; which turned out to be a good move, because Peter only made it a few steps before letting out a groan and sinking to his knees.

One of the police officers clearing the scene, looked towards the men, face awash with concern.

"Is he okay? Do you need a paramedic?"

Happy kept a reassuring hand on the teenager's shoulder, as Tony gently scooped Peter into his arms; one arm under his knees and the other around his back.

"We have the situation handled, thank you Ma'am."

Tony looked down at the kid he was carrying, and swore at the blood that was already smeared across the metal of his suit.

Peter was losing consciousness, and Tony was in a hurry to get him back to the compound; talking to him in an attempt to keep him awake. But the pull of exhaustion was too much, and Peter slipped into darkness.

…..

Peter woke to voices, and familiar faces hovering over him.

"Don't move, just lay still." That was Happy, his gruff voice attempting to sound grumpy to cover his concern.

"Yeah man, Doctor Banner only just finished fixing you. You should take it easy for a bit." That one was Ned, and Peter blinked up at him as he stood beside Happy.

Peter didn't know much about what was happening, and blinked as he tried to get his vision to clear, and his mind to focus.

Ned watched his friend frown and, knowing he was confused, put a hand on Peters shoulder, and smiled reassuringly.

"Hey, you did a great job with that robber! And you got all the hostages out! I was really worried when that bomb went off. I'm glad you're okay."

Memories flickered in and out of Peters mind and he shot up from the bed, sitting straight up with a gasp.

"The inhuman! I almost killed him!"

Three pairs of hands shot to Peters chest, pushing him back down on the bed. Usually Peter would have protested but the sudden movement had made him dizzy and about a dozen different body parts scream in pain; so, he did as he was told and lay back.

A very tired voice came to Peters ears, and he quickly found the owner of it.

"Peter, he's fine, but you aren't so would you do me a favour and not do that again? You're going to rip your stitches, and you know how Bruce feels about you doing that."

Tony was sitting at his side, arms folded, with a frown on his face.

Peter felt a lot better, seeing him there. "You came." His voice was raised as if in question although he hadn't phrased it that way.

Tony waved a hand like it was obvious. "Yes, because you finally decided to do the right thing and call me when you needed help."

Peter knew that if he said much else he could earn himself a lecture, even though he didn't actually do anything wrong this time. So, he smiled instead, and rested back against his pillows.

"Thanks. To all of you. I didn't know if I'd be making it out of there."

Ned looked a little upset at that, and his voice was quiet as he gently nudged his friends shoulder. "You know I hate it when you say that."

Peter nodded. "I know you do, buddy. Sorry. I should have known the best 'guy in the chair' would have my back."

That made the teenager smile, and Peter couldn't help but smile back as Neds face lit up. "Of course, I do!"

Tony couldn't hold on to his grumpy façade with both kids looking so happy, and he relented a smile as the two chatted away. Happy caught his expression, barely managing to cover his own matching one; because it was really hard not to love Peter Parker.


End file.
